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Trimming it down to the rhizome

In The book "Savage Garden" by Peter D'Amato, he writes that some VFT owners trim off the leaves and store the rhizome in the refridgerator for winter dormancy. My VFT is small enough to put the entire plant, pot and all, in the refridgerator. But next year this may not be practical and I am looking for another solution. I live in an apartment in NY and do not have outside access. Is the process discussed in "Savage Garden" a good one?
 
I like to just put the whole pot in the fridge too. I put the pot in a ziplock bag, making sure I don't have any water pooled in the bottom of the bag. I do this becuase I'm lazy and don't like to unpot the plants and trim them back.

I have bare-rooted them, trimmed them up and packed the "bulbs" in LF sphagnum in a ziplock. I like to thoroughly wet wet the sphagnum and the wring it out so its moist but not super wet. This works very well, it also gives you the oppertunity to divide larger plants. A good quality sphagnum maintains the dormant VFT's very well.

I put the VFT's in the bulb-cooler or fridge at about the same time the Sarrs come in to the cooler from outdoors, about mid-November in West Michigan. I like to leave the Vfts in the cooler for about 10 weeks befor bringing them out to grow on.

Hope that helps.

Steve
 
I have a similar question, with slightly different variables: I work at an environmental laboratory and our samples are stored in several refrigerators, larger than a standard kitchen fridge. Also, the fluorescent lights stay on during the day, for approximately 9 hours. We keep the temp at 4 degrees C. Assuming I let my window sill VFT's and / or pitcher plants gradually cool down and receive less light throughout the fall, to the point that they are closely approximating the temp & light of the fridge - could these plants be placed in the fridge for the winter without putting the in a ziplock - considering they sren't covered up in nature?
 
jimscott
Think of a fridge as a giant air conditioner.  As the air cools, water is removed.  What you are left with is cool, dry air.  The dry air will literally suck the moisture out of your VFT.   Simply put the plant in a small garbage bag or even a plastic shopping bag tied tightly.  The plant will cool down at a slower rate (like getting goldfish used to the temperature of a new tank) and will be protected from the cold dry air.  
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